CHAPTER 13:THUNDERSTORMS

PPL

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 OBJECTIVES
 To outline the characteristics and types
of thunderstorms and their effects on
surface weather and flight conditions.
 To explain the requirement for the
avoidance of flight in thunderstorms.

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 INTRODUCTION
 Definition
 Local storm characterized by lightning and thunder.
 Consists of one or more cells with strong vertical air currents
and are the locale of raindrop and hailstone formation.
 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) defines
thunderstorm as
– One or more sudden electrical discharges, manifested by a flash
of light (lightning) and a sharp or rumbling sound (thunder)
 May be connected masses or lines of thunderstorms
extending over a horizontal distance of more than 50
kilometres.

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 INTRODUCTION cont..
 Diameter of the thunderstorm cell may be
about 10 kilometres.
 Typical CB cloud extend beyond 35,000 ft in
mid-latitudes and often well above 45,000 ft in
the tropics.
 Weather hazards associated
 lightning, hail, ice formation, and severe
turbulence.
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 EFFECT OF THUNDERSTORM ON
AIRCRAFT
 On modern a/c in the metal parts
 Connected electrically, or “bonded”
 Electrical effects of a thunderstorm less than might be
imagined.
 aircraft is struck by lightning
 Metal structure of the aircraft acts rather like a lightning conductor
 aircrew protected from electrical shocks.

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 EFFECT OF THUNDERSTORM ON
AIRCRAFT cont..
• Following effects may occur in T/S
• Turbulence
– increase, and if severe, may make control of the aircraft
difficult
– interrupt normal aircrew duties
– Altimeters may give erroneous readings.
• Lightning
– may burn off trailing aerials,
– burn small holes in the aircraft
– cause errors on magnetic compass readings
– may result into temporary blindness
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 EFFECT OF THUNDERSTORM ON
AIRCRAFT cont..
• On certain frequencies
– radio communications and navigation aids may be
unusable.
• Ice formation
– may be severe though usually short lived,
– Airframe icing, engine icing may occur.
• Heavy hail
– may cause structural damage
– usually confined to denting, particularly of leading
edges.

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 CONDITIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT
 Warm, moist unstable air in the lower layers
 A lifting mechanism to trigger the instability
 Abundant moisture - particularly in the lower layers of the
atmosphere.

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 LIFE CYCLE OF TS
• Process divided into three stages
– each lasting between 20 and 40 minutes
• The cumulus stage (growth stage)
– Strong updraughts prevail in the thunderstorm cell and cumulus cloud
grows rapidly upward
– Hail and ice crystals exist near and above the freezing level.
• small and are sustained by the updraughts.
– ELR is greater than SALR within the cloud.
• The mature stage
– TS reaches highest intensity.
– Updraughts continue to be strong
• some parts of the cell they are replaced by downdraughts.
• Precipitation and sometimes hail falling out of the base of the cloud.
• CB frequently reaches levels up to 12 kilometres
• Develops an anvil-head caused by upper tropospheric winds.

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• Flying adjacent downdraughts causes large wind shears and severe turbulence.
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 LIFE CYCLE OF TS cont..
 The dissipating stage
– The downdraught grows vertically and horizontally until it extends
through the whole cloud.
– Rain gradually decreases as no new condensation takes place within
the cloud.
– The top of cloud more fibrous in appearance due to absence of
updraughts and feathered
 Anvil shape becomes more noticeable.
 When downdraught ends, temperature becomes equalized with the
environment:
– the cloud dissolves or develop into irregular masses of stratified clouds.

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 LIFE CYCLE OF TS cont..

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 TYPES OF THUNDERSTORMS
 Airmass thunderstorm
 Develop within relatively homogeneous air masses e.g. summer-heat
storm.
 Have pronounced diurnal variation with a maximum in the
afternoon and early morning.
 Orographic thunderstorm
 Air made to rise over a mountain mass
 where the air is sufficiently unstable CB cloud grow

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 TYPES OF THUNDERSTORMS cont..
 Frontal thunderstorm
 Associated with boundary surfaces between two air masses
 When airmass convectively unstable, sufficiently warm and moist,
 TS released in the upglide motion associated with frontal zones.

 Line thunderstorms
 Have a tendency to be arranged in lines or bands
 Along the direction of the wind at low levels
 Are severe and have pronounced diurnal variation.
 Are accompanied by strong gusts, hail, heavy rains and sometimes
tornadoes.

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 THUNDERSTORM DETECTION USING
SATELLITE & RADAR

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 AVOIDANCE CRITERIA
Flight Echo Characteristics
Altitude
Shape Intensity Gradient of Rate of
Intensity Change

0 to 20 000 ft Avoid by 10 Avoid by 5 Avoid by 5 Avoid by 10

nm echoes nm echoes nm echoes nm echoes
with hooks, with sharp with strong showing
fingers, edges or gradients of rapid change
scalloped strong intensity of shape,
edges or intensity height or
other intensity
protrusions

20 to 25 000 Avoid all echoes by 10 nm

ft
25 to 30 000 Avoid all echoes by 15 nm
ft
15
Above
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School -JOAOK Avoid all echoes by 20 nm 8/27/2017
000 ft